Two men facing prison shed their public defenders in an attempt to test Washington’s marijuana law.

By Kevin Taylor

Markwart didnâeuro;™t sell to him because the detective didnâeuro;™t have the proper documentation showing he could legally use medical marijuana. Still, the Quad Cities Drug Task Force had enough evidence through the use of a confidential informant to arrest Markwart, an outspoken advocate for medical marijuana who sold to 15 patients, mainly college students.

Why prescription drugs are getting harder to find, despite an act by the president.

By Chris Stein

In Newport, itâeuro;™s methotrexate, used to treat rheumatoid arthritis. In Coeur dâeuro;™Alene, itâeuro;™s vitamin K, which stops people who take blood thinners from bleeding to death during surgery. And in Spokane, itâeuro;™s cytarabine, which fights cancerous blood cells..

When Gifford got to the oddly shaped room in the oddly shaped Spokane Regional Health District building, there was a line of people, all carrying their used syringes in coffee cans, brown purses and paper bags. Everson sat behind a table, helping them count out their wares.

Charles Shaw’s Exile Nation aims to be a complete, 40-year oral history of the War on Drugs.

By Joseph Haeger

Armed with a creative writing degree from Boston University, Shaw has taken aim at what put him behind bars: the War on Drugs. His book (subtitled “Drugs, Prisons, Politics and Spirituality”) is available online at Reality Sandwich and in print next year through Counterpoint/ Soft Skull Press.

A serious effort to legalize marijuana kicks off.

By Nicholas Deshais

Earlier this month, the Global Commission on Drug Policy — a 19-member group that includes former presidents and prime ministers of five nations, a previous secretary general of the United Nations and a retired U.S. secretary of state — declared the war a failure.

How a month of memos, votes, raids and a veto killed Washington's — and maybe the nation's — medical marijuana industry.

By Nicholas Deshais

After almost two years of unregulated growth that led to an estimated 40 dispensaries in the county, it took a sweep of raids on Thursday and a swipe of the veto pen on Friday to completely dismantle the county’s booming marketplace for medical pot..

Three measures in Olympia could change the way Washington state looks at pot.

By Nicholas Deshais

Three measures working their way through Olympia right now aim to change the way the state deals with marijuana, including legalizing it, making it easier for sick people to procure it and taxing the hell out of it. The legislation could give Washington the loosest marijuana laws in the nation.

Across the country - and especially Idaho - meth use has fallen dramatically. But why?

By Daniel Walters

But today, those labs have, for the most part, disappeared. “We’ve seen the lab just fall of the table locally,” Major Ben Wolfinger of the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office says. “Local dealers, they’re not cooking from their own meth. They’re bringing it from outside the area.